Synopsis:
[blockquote]The dying Emipre's most cunning and ruthless warlord - Grand Admiral Thrawn - has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the New Republic's destruction. Meanwhile, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republic Council - only to discover instead a ghostly fleet of warships that could bring doom to their friends and victory to their enemies.

Yet the most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness ... and scheming to corrupt Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side.[/blockquote]

I absolutely love Dark Force Rising. It's the best of TTT, one of the best novels in itself, and best middle act ever. I especially like Karrde's character development here. Garm Bel Iblis, Lando and Han are also great. But the shining point of the book is, of course, the race for the Katana Fleet. The end battle is still my all-favorite space battle; although it's much smaller in scale than some of the other space battles we saw in the EU.

I thought it was very unfortunate how Thrawn completly missed Leia being on Honoghr. She should have been captured there.

With that said, I think it is a very good book, and certainly a interesting read. I thought Skywalker's reaction to the clones was terrific. The inclusion of the AT-PT is certainly a nice touch, not to mention the entire search for the Katana fleet.

I give every book of the Thrawn Trilogy a 10!
This one is just extremely good, full of suspense, with cool battles, clones and developments in a lot of characters.
Also, not to forget, the introduction of Niles Ferrier, the starship thief, and of Garm Bel Iblis!

The same 8 the rest of TTT got. Wasn't as good as it sounded and It feels like a 6 to me beacause I was thinking it was going to be so much better but I gave it a 8 because I know that if I hadn't heard anything I would have liked it more.

10 - As others have said, this is probably the best book of TTT. It is extremely well written and the character development progresses wonderfully a number of characters, I especially liked Bel Iblis' role throughout this series. I couldn't find anything bad about this book, the characters were great, the action was intense, the storyline was always leaving you wanting more, which you undoubtedly received. Wonderful book and a great addition to this trilogy.

XizorReincarnate,
who was this guy? I'll have a serious talk with him...
Nop. It's not getting any better. Thrawn's Trilogy is the BEST of ALL EU, the best SW BOOKS EVER, they are!

Although I have to admit that "Dark Force Rising" may be the weakest from the Trilogy, it's still a great piece of fiction.
The bad things are that it's the interlude before Thrawn's most famous tricks (such as fall of Ukio and the asteroid bombing of Coruscant) and after Thrawn's first victories (which are in HttE). It has a very gripping line connected with the Katana Fleet, however. And the story of Mara Jade in this book is quite a thing to follow.

Best Book in the best Trilogy. Some Trilogy suffer from "Bridge Syndrome" but this doesn't. I loved the part were all the soldiers Turn Against frey'lya and obey liea during the Katana battle.
Deadly book=10

10. A middle book is usually the most difficult to pull off, and this one ended up being my favorite of the whole shebang! With the exception of missing Leia hiding out with the Noghri, Thrawn seems to be on top of the game plan. Every time Niles Ferrier would enter the picture I felt like chanting "Weasel" ala Bobby Heenan. And finally it's great at the end for Fey'lya's bubble to burst.